text:
During the party-filled week before graduation, Jeffrey Johnson Jr. kept a cap and gown neatly folded in the trunk of his burnt-orange Chevy Monte Carlo. The 17-year-old scholar, set to receive summa cum laude honors in the Carol City Senior High School class of 2006, had worked hard for both the robe and the car.
He'd been raised by a single dad who plied his kids with hundreds of dollars for good grades and a flashy used car at the end of every school year. As a sophomore, when classmates harbored dreams of ancient Corollas, Jeffrey Jr. tooled through Miami Gardens in a Lexus.
The kid didn't need graft. He was one of Carol City's most driven students, a luminary in a school plagued by an almost 50 percent dropout rate. Jeffrey was co-captain of the Law Magnet Program, an intern at Rep. Kendrick Meek's local office, and a talented guard on the Carol City Chiefs' basketball team before quitting to focus on a perfect GPA his senior year. Jeffrey won a Bright Futures scholarship and, with it, a free ride to St. Thomas University. He wanted to be the next Johnnie Cochran.
cursed Carol City High class of 2006
The cocky teen was popular with the girls but loyal to his friends. "He would introduce me to girls he was dating with: 'This is my sister,'" says Genevieve Carvil, a Law Magnet classmate who matched his enormous ambition. "'If you have a problem with me spending time with her, you can't be my girlfriend.'"
If Jeffrey had a flaw, it was this: He had no fear of the Fallujah-like streets of Northwest Dade. He cavorted freely through Opa-locka, Liberty City, and Overtown. He even turned down his dad's offer of $300 per week to party only in Miami Gardens.
So on the night of Saturday, May 20, 2006, four days before graduation, Jeffrey danced himself into a sweat during a packed party that spilled from a tiny pastel Liberty City house at 1752 NW 53rd St. A DJ was spinning bass-heavy rap for dozens of high-school-age kids.
Jeffrey's 2002 Monte Carlo — tricked-out with bat-wing doors, 24-inch rims, and the gaudy paint job — attracted attention as he and three friends headed out around 3 a.m. And when another partygoer pulled up in a similarly customized black-and-red Pontiac Grand Prix, the DJ sparked a competition.
The raucous teens cheered one car and then the other. Eventually they awarded Jeffrey the win — a rouge leather interior was the deciding factor. In response, the vanquished pulled a wad of bills from his jeans pocket. "Nigga, but I got money!" he taunted, according to witnesses.
Jeffrey popped the trunk and planted the white graduation cap on his head. Bursting with machismo, he climbed onto the roof of the Monte Carlo and incited, "I'm going to graduate! I'm going to be somebody. I'm going to outdo all you cats anyway."
When he returned to the pavement, his foe greeted him with a hard punch to the teeth. They fell to the ground, wrestling for control. Suddenly a 9mm gunshot rang out and the shocked crowd scattered.
By the time police arrived, Jeffrey was dead; the bullet had ripped through his back and pierced his heart.
After officers quickly took the Grand Prix owner into custody, he ratted on a crony, Antwan Grace. The next day, cops slapped the 22-year-old with Jeffrey's murder. He had already been convicted of robbing an elderly woman at gunpoint and was awaiting trial for new gun charges.
As text messages and phone calls circulated the news, Jeffrey's classmates were struck with a familiar grief. From Jeffrey's class of 500, three kids — none of them involved in gangs or the drug trade — had already been killed by gunfire in only a few months. Three more would die after graduation. Throughout Miami, people began to call it Carol City High's "cursed class of 2006."
But even as the school continues to grapple with new teenage murders and a teacher's near-fatal shooting, the legacy of 2006 is optimism. Jeffrey's older sister Jarrika collected his scholarship and earned a bachelor's degree from St. Thomas University just a few miles from the spot where her brother died. His best friend, Genevieve Carvil, will graduate from college in only three years and is on the fast track to clinching the courtroom success they had planned to experience together. "His dream came true," says Genevieve, who in Jeffrey's honor started a nonprofit that counsels needy high schoolers on their college applications. "But it came true in death."
When it opened in fall 1963, Carol City Senior High was a state-of-the-art facility, one of the first public schools in the state to boast air-conditioning. Its location, in a portion of unincorporated Northwest Dade County known as Carol City, was still dominated by farms. Nora Hernandez-Hendrix, a class of 1969 grad, describes an area that contrasts starkly with the barred-window environs of today. "It was a wonderful place to grow up," she recalls wistfully. "It was full of new developments that had until recently been cow pastures. The kids would get on their bikes and explore."
Within a few years, integration quotas were enforced and African-American students were bused to the high school from neighborhoods such as Bunche Park. A look through the orange-colored yearbooks from those early years displays an encouraging racial harmony: black and white students appear to mix easily, grinning together as they pose in cheerleading uniforms or at student government meetings.
But the place wasn't immune to the cultural turmoil of the time. "They could bus us in, but they couldn't force the races to mingle," says Robert, a black 1970 graduate who wouldn't give his last name for fear of ostracizing former classmates. "Most of those white kids hadn't had much experience with black people, and a lot of them didn't show much interest in giving us a chance."
The school was known for excellence both in the classroom and on the athletic field. In years before academic performance was distilled as statistic, glowing student testimonials and national contest winners told the story. Between 1974 and 1980, Carol City students won four prestigious National Merit Scholarships, including three National Achievement Scholarships, which are reserved for African-Americans. The state liked to herald the diverse school: On his first day as governor in 1979, Bob Graham taught a student government class there.
And Carol City athletes made the campus a magnet for big-time scouts. Top sports were wrestling and basketball. Then there was the Chiefs' marching band, which no longer gyrates to Jefferson Airplane but is still often referred to as the "soul" of Carol City High.
Eventually white flight transformed the surrounding neighborhoods, and with them the student demographic. Miami Gardens was seen by black middle-class families as an attractive refuge from the Third-World streets of Overtown and Liberty City. By the mid-'80s, more than three-quarters of the school was black. As the years passed, that proportion grew.
The athletic department maintained its fame for diligent coaching and talented kids. The Chiefs' strongest suit is football, and they won three state championships in that sport from 1996 to 2003. They've produced scads of college talent and more than a dozen big-league athletes in the three major sports, from University of Miami hero and NFL defensive tackle Lester Williams (class of 1978) to major-league outfielder Danny Tartabull (1980) to pro wide receiver sibling phenoms Santana and Sinorice Moss (1996 and 2001).
But Carol City's stellar academic reputation was less enduring. In 1981, the school was branded "deficient" after fewer than 70 percent of its students passed a basic skills achievement test. Then there were straight D ratings from 1998 through 2006. A John Hopkins study labeled the school a "dropout factory" for its 53 percent graduation rate. In 1986, ten faculty members, including three teachers, were busted for drug use or property theft.
Many students insist the stats don't tell the story. "Most of the teachers are really excellent and very caring," says Latoya Bentley, a 2006 graduate.
"It's a ghetto place," counters 20-year-old Robert Williams. He briefly attended Carol City before transferring to Miami Central High, another troubled school. "The building, the teachers, the kids — it's got this real ghetto atmosphere."
As Miami Gardens' property tax revenues plummeted to the third-lowest in the county, residents blamed the projects filling the neighborhood — and directly surrounding the school — for importing a culture of drugs and crime. The controversial stance was made official in 2007 when Mayor Shirley Gibson vowed her city would allow no more low-income housing developments.
Carol City High also draws students from Opa-locka, which in 2004 had the most violent crimes per capita of any city in the nation. A Miami Herald study showed the 33054 area — effectively Carol City High's student pool — to be the most dangerous zip code in the county for teenagers.
But in 2006, a familial closeness still defined the school. And Carol City High students — until they graduated or dropped out, at least — seemed safe from the violence that had gripped the surrounding area.
One glance at Paul Moore's classroom reveals he is a different type of teacher. Images of black heroes adorn the walls: Barack Obama, Malcolm X, and Rick Ross are tacked alongside clipped news articles about close-to-home subjects such as the Miami Edison in-school "riot" of 2007. On the whiteboard, written in Moore's neatly boxy script, is the dictum of the day: "The National Bureau of Economic Research and Young Jeezy agree: We're in a recession."
It's a reference to the title of the rapper's latest album. "I probably know more about hip-hop than the average white person," says Moore, a six-foot-five Massachusetts native and former union organizer. "If it's a piece of music that I know speaks to students, I'll make sure I familiarize myself with it."
In the 26 years he has taught social studies at Carol City High, his style has evolved to accommodate an intimacy with his pupils. He has eschewed textbooks in favor of daily personal essays. Class discussions are freewheeling and pertinent to his students' lives.
In this classroom — he taught three of the boys who would later be murdered — and around the school, Moore came to know the class of 2006. "There was something special about those students," the usually unsentimental teacher says. "There was a core of high achievers and ambitious kids."
But he noticed something else among his students as the class neared its final year: a morbid familiarity with the high-powered tools of violence. He recalls a Carol City teenager named Ashley telling him of the newest trend among her peers: posing with assault rifles and machine guns at house parties. He scrolled a few of his students' MySpace pages and was horrified by photos of boys nonchalantly hoisting the heavy weapons.
"It was around that time that this orgy of death began," he says. "We certainly never had any students killed — until all of a sudden, it was happening every other month."
November 29, 2005: Evan Page
Evan's mom, Rhonda, struggled with schizophrenia, and his father defied positive paternity tests. So the polite kid, something of a loner and driven by private ambitions, was raised by his grandmother, Luella. Mama, as the boy called the talkative, quick-to-confide older woman, raised her grandson from infanthood; his was the only young face in her barracks-like Miami Gardens retirement complex.
Luella, the mother of four girls, came to see him as the son she always wanted. She recalls a doting grandson who made her pancakes in the morning, taught her to drive, and accompanied her to church. "He was my grandson, he was my son, he was my little friend," Luella says. "I just miss him so much."
Evan was an above-average student, but he was more absorbed in his after-school pastime. On afternoons and weekends, he donned a gray cadet's uniform and participated in the Police Explorers program, a law enforcement training camp where he learned radio codes, rode with cops, and issued traffic citations.
At 9:45 on a Tuesday night in 2005, he was sitting in the passenger seat of a friend's car, waiting to place his order at the drive-thru window of a Miami Gardens Drive Checkers. A 20-something stick-up kid wearing a black T-shirt and brandishing a pistol ran up and demanded valuables, starting with the teenager's gold crucifix and a ring.
Instead, the Carol City student jumped from the car and tackled the thug by the legs. It was not a good choice. The robber shot Evan through the armpit three times, and he died at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
No witnesses came forward. The cops have not arrested a suspect. For weeks after the murder, Carol City high students wore "R.I.P. Evan" T-shirts.
Luella, though, has become obsessed with her grandson's death. On a recent gusty morning, she sits in a straight-back chair on her porch and shows a ragged, spiral-bound notebook packed with scrawled detectives' phone numbers and questionable leads.
There are clothing receipts, unsigned love letters, and photos of Evan with men she never met, all of them excavated from his bedroom. "I just think that if somebody could pay for this crime," Luella explains, "I could get a little peace."
She harbors a hateful suspicion of Joseph Guy, the 29-year-old man who was with Evan in the car that night. Though police insist Guy had nothing to do with the crime, she phones him often late at night. "I press *67 before I call him so he won't see it's me," she declares matter-of-factly. "I ask him: 'Are you ready to come clean? Are you ready to tell me what happened that Tuesday night?'"
Despite a segment on America's Most Wanted, Evan's case appears hopelessly cold. Evan's younger brother, Ronald, now a Miami Central High junior, is unequivocal when asked whether the police have been diligent in solving his brother's murder. "No," he says flatly. "Make sure you put an exclamation mark after that."
April 29, 2006: Sharika Wilson Lynch
That spring, 19-year-old Sharika was on hiatus from Carol City High for the first year of her baby girl Ahamani's life. "Oh, she was going back," assures Doris Lynch, the grandmother who raised her. "She had me to answer to otherwise."
Like Evan, Sharika had been dealt a bad hand. Her mother, Sarita, landed in prison for the first of three terms for cocaine possession when Sharika was still toddling. Her father, Daniel, a "woman-chaser," as his mother Doris puts it, had seven kids by different mothers and succumbed to AIDS when Sharika was 17. The slack was picked up by Doris, widow of one of Opa-locka's most successful African-American merchants and landowners.
In her second-floor room, the buoyant Sharika blasted D'Angelo and spent hours coordinating outfits that matched sneaker shoelaces, tank tops, and the dyed tips of audaciously coiffed hair. She reveled in her popularity with guys and wasn't unhappy when she became pregnant by a Carol City High boyfriend in January 2005. "She was a loving girl," Doris says. "She never caused me any problems."
After spending an entire Thursday lying in bed at her grandmother's house, stricken by a headache and stupored by court television, she headed to the corner store for milk and aspirin. "She wanted to get out of the house," Doris remembers. "She said, 'It's just down the street.'"
Her destination was the Imperial Market, a bulletproofed bunker of a corner store, once owned by her grandparents, in the heart of the Triangle, Opa-locka's most dangerous sector. The nine-block firefight-scoured war zone has been nearly abandoned by any enterprise without a malt liquor bottle or a pastor's name painted on it.
Sharika was on her way home when a car cruised by and gunfire exploded from it. The man in front of her, 31-year-old Antwan Jones, a convicted coke dealer and the likely target, was hit several times and killed.
One fatal bullet struck Sharika in the heart.
Today, Sarita has stepped up to take care of her orphaned granddaughter, a smart, talkative 4-year-old who replies casually that her mother is in "the sky." Sharika's old room was nailed shut after a termite attack, and her diaries, school papers, and Dwyane Wade posters are tucked into boxes in a garage.
The Imperial Market has closed, and despite the 60 to 70 potential witnesses, by a police spokesperson's estimation, cops again found little cooperation. "Oh, they saw who it is," Doris says. "They're just scared."
After Evan's and Sharika's murders, the grief was unnaturally muted at Carol City High. Even as county crisis counselors became campus fixtures, the school mood fell somewhere between dogged coping and outright denial. "It got to be very somber in the school," says social studies teacher Moore. "There was this great sense of communal shock."
May 21-26, 2006: Jeffrey Johnson Jr.
Jeffrey was not only a would-be Johnnie Cochran but also Carol City's most visible student and seemingly preordained for great success. His murder tore open the school's emotional wound. "That rocked everybody, because everybody knew Jeffrey," says his closest friend, Genevieve. "Boys that weren't doing so well looked up Jeffrey was not only a would-be Johnnie Cochran but also Carol City's most visible student and seemingly preordained for great success. His murder tore open the school's emotional wound. "That rocked everybody, because everybody knew Jeffrey," says his closest friend, Genevieve. "Boys that weren't doing so well looked up to him, because here was a cool kid that was accomplishing everything. Then to have him killed over a car was just devastating. Even teachers didn't know what to say."
Because of the timing, Jeffrey's memorial services and the class graduation seemed to merge into one weeklong ceremony, marked by emotion at once celebratory and funereal.
The Tuesday after the shooting, Miami-Dade County Auditorium was packed with an estimated 3,000 people, hundreds standing against the back walls. Fifty of Jeffrey Jr.'s family members had been given tickets and shuttled there on a bus provided by Kendrick Meek. Three seats were left unoccupied for Jeffrey, Sharika, and Evan.
Jeffrey Sr., who owns a carpet and window treatment business, donned his son's graduation robe and took his spot in the ceremony. He steadied Genevieve, who accepted her diploma in the spot in front of him. When Jeffrey Jr.'s name was announced, the crowd erupted into a standing ovation as his favorite song, "Chevy Ridin' High," by Carol City High alum Rick Ross, blasted over speakers.
"He worked his whole life to pick up his own diploma," Jeffrey Sr. says. "It was real hard for me to do it for him."
At the memorial in the school auditorium, an impassioned Moore made a speech that spoke to the hopelessness many of his students were feeling. "So, the body of a young man who thought he could make a difference lies before us today. Shall we add his name to the long and growing list of young people felled by senseless violence and be done with it?" he asked before urging the inverse: "Figure out who is pulling the strings in this hostile world you are being asked to live in... Then go pick a fight with injustice, poverty, racism, and war. If you do it from the heart, Jeffrey will be right there at your side."
October 29, 2006: Jennifer Branden
Not until arbitrary death continued to stalk the class of 2006 after graduation did the notion of a "curse" arise. In the fall, 18-year-old Jennifer was pummeled by a black Hummer H3 as she crossed the road on the downtrodden 2900 block of Opa-locka's NW 191st Street. The Carol City honor roll student, who was working at Denny's as she saved up for college, flew 250 feet and was killed. She had been absorbed in a cell phone conversation when the SUV hit, and the local pastor at the wheel was never charged.
January 4, 2007: Anthony Elias
The superstition was solidified when 17-year-old Anthony — or "Yellowman," as he was known for his mulatto complexion — followed his slain classmates. He had an unflappable persona that earned him comparisons to Snoop Dogg: personable, aloof, and effortless. "He was a cool, laid-back cat," says Tim Wilson, a 2006 senior who lived near Anthony's Miami Gardens home. He respected Anthony for working afternoons and weekends in a Florida Power & Light uniform, checking meters: "He was about his money."
"He was a very quiet, unpretentious, above-average student who made an effort to do what was right," says Eric Hafter, who taught Anthony American history. Other teachers knew him as silent but not sullen, a kid who slouched in his chair and simply observed but always had a correct answer or a witty riposte when called on. He was handsome, and says one teacher, "he always got a lot of attention from girls, and he just let it come to him."
On a clear, brisk Thursday, seven months after the 2006 graduation, Anthony Elias was in front of 23-year-old friend Andrew Allen's home, at 7501 Grandview Blvd. They were working on the engine of Andrew's car. A neighbor heard the squeal of tires and what she thought at first to be leftover New Year's fireworks. Then she stepped outside and saw the two bodies slumped on the curb.
Their murders remain unsolved. By student accounts, Anthony had no enemies.
May 23, 2008: Brian DuPree
The son of Charles DuPree, a security monitor at Carol City Middle and High schools, Brian had been known as the incessant comedian of his class. He was an irresistible kid who often had students, teachers, and his parents vacillating between urges to smack him and cry tears of laughter.
His favorite impression was of "Kiki," the high-pitched radio personality on 99 Jamz, and he wasn't afraid to bust it out during a quiet moment in social studies class. "Sometimes his shtick might get a little aggravating for the other students," says Moore, who co-taught Brian in a 150-student auditorium class. "But he would always be able to win them over."
Since their days at Carol City Middle, Brian had been inseparable from Tim Wilson, a hulking, 280-pound Chief defensive tackle and straight man to his antics. "We would go to the club, and I might get into an argument with someone," Tim says. "Brian would step in and tell me: 'Just chill. We just here for the girls.'"
At age 21, Brian led a life that was more complicated than it had been during those days as a pubescent class clown. He had a daughter, Tionne, 2 years old, by an ex-girlfriend, and another one on the way. "He had gotten serious after Tionne," Tim says. "He wasn't all about the partying anymore."
Near 4 a.m. that Saturday, he was sitting in the driver seat of the car of his newest girlfriend, Britney, outside his family's Miami Gardens home. This had been their custom for the past couple of weeks: talking, fooling around, smoking weed, and listening to music while Brian's family slept inside.
Charles heard the shots first, saw the sky momentarily light up through his bedroom window, and instantly thought of his son. "I ran out of the house because I knew Brian was sitting outside," he recalls. "I saw him sitting in the front seat with his eyes closed, so quiet like he was sleeping. I thought, Of course Brian would be sleeping with all this shooting going on. Then I saw a trickle of blood coming out of his ear."
In all, cops would say, the drive-by shooters, armed with a semiautomatic, had emptied 20 bullets into the car, two of which hit Brian.
Britney, who escaped unscathed, sobbed on the lawn. Charles cradled his son. Neighbors poked their heads out of doorways.
Again, nobody saw a thing — but informed rumors flew around the neighborhood.
One pegged the killer as a well-known neighborhood goon, a 21-year-old identical twin with a long and violent rap sheet. The motive: Brian had been seeing the thug's ex-girlfriend.
About two months later, that man was gunned down on the street. Now Brian's family is left to care for two children he left behind: Tionne and Brinyah, whom he never met and is now 6 weeks old.
Three days after the murder, Charles went back to work at Carol City Middle. But he won't step foot in the high school again. He can't bring himself to face Brian's friends.
December 4, 2008
Paul Moore is conductor-like behind his notes-cluttered classroom. He allows his students, as always, to steer discussion. And at 9:30 this Thursday morning, there might not be a more lively class in the county. It's packed with 35 seniors.
The conversation flies wildly from whether teachers should be able to paddle students, to the assertion that black kids are better behaved than white, eventually landing on the topic of the Columbine shootings. "We might bring guns to school, but at least we don't use them," Glendel Paul opines, which gets titters from the crowd.
"We've already done our killing," declares a girl wearing door-knocker earrings and her hair in elaborate waves. "The curse is over."
"How is it over?" another student demands, but the conversation quickly loses steam, and five minutes later, the kids are discussing the moral of urban teen flick ATL.
The two years separating these seniors and the class of 2006 have dulled their empathy. As the hour wraps up, class clown Glendel tells the story of how he survived an armed robbery at the Checkers where he works — the same place Evan was murdered — relating the tale with a slapstick humor unnatural to the topic. "I thought the dude was joking at first, so I started laughing," the burly young man recounts before lowering his tone to a stick-up kid's menace. "He goes, 'I ain't joking, son!' and puts the gun in my face, and I'm like, 'Oh!'"
The giddy students enjoy the story. For these Carol City kids, life is as precarious as ever, but there's no fear in this classroom.
If there is a curse, it seems it has a much wider breadth than one class. Carol City bloodshed has only gained speed since Jeffrey Johnson's class matriculated. Less than eight months after that graduation, on the night of December 20, 2006, junior Myckenley "Mike" Barjon was killed in a drive-by a block from his Miami Gardens home. Like Evan before him, he was a harmless kid with television-inspired dreams — he wanted to be a Navy SEAL — and his murder hasn't been solved.
On a Tuesday in November 2007, algebra teacher Sergio Miranda took a smoke break outside, across a chainlink fence from a neighboring housing project. A robber ran up to Miranda, a soft-spoken 43-year-old immigrant six years removed from the Cuban lottery, and shot him in the side in a bid for the teacher's wallet. As the kids watched on TV sets in locked-down classrooms, the cops tracked down Patrick Lively, an 18-year-old violent felon.
Fifteen months after the shooting, Miranda's legs heal in plastic sheaths as he rests at his home in Hialeah, earning two-thirds of his salary. "I want to go right back to teaching when I heal," he vows, but he'll find a more concealed spot to puff his Capri 120s.
Three days after this past Christmas, 15-year-old sophomore Zachary Mitchell was killed and his 17-year-old brother Deondre Bain wounded when they were hit by bullets in a drive-by in front of their Miami Gardens home. Although cops have yet to release many details, rumors say it might have been a payback shooting, with Deondre as the intended target.
Just down the block from the recently dedicated Jeffrey Lamar Johnson Jr. Boulevard, its slain namesake's Monte Carlo collects carburetor dust in his father's driveway. "I ain't ever going to sell it," Jeffrey Sr. says after lamenting the dent he put in its side. He drives it only to keep it running, and at annual Stop the Violence parades. "It just means everything to me."
We Believe Local Journalism is Critical to the Life of a City
Engaging with our readers is essential to Miami New Times's mission. Make a financial contribution or sign up for a newsletter, and help us keep telling Miami's stories with no paywalls.
Support Our Journalism
Jeffrey Sr. has turned his home and wardrobe into a shrine. He has wallpapered his bedroom with school photos of his son from preschool to the year he died, and every day he wears a T-shirt with his son's photo on it: "I got about 50 of them." He wears Jeffrey Jr.'s chunky blue class ring on his finger. He has made his house an eyesore by slathering it with orange and gold — his son's favorite colors.
Jeffrey's sister, Jarrika, graduated in the top two percentile in her St. Thomas University class with his transferred scholarship. She's now at Florida A&M, studying for a doctorate in pharmacy. "That's the only thing that keeps me going," says Dad. "I used to live for Jeffrey's success. Now I live for Jarrika's."
The slain honor student's other "sister," Genevieve, has continued to overachieve. Armed with loads of college hours taken while still at Carol City, she'll receive her bachelor's in psychology, with minors in journalism and philosophy, from University of Miami this spring.
Then she'll attend UM for a law degree. She hopes to become a prosecutor. "Whenever I'm feeling lazy or defeated," she says, "I'll hear Jeffrey just poking me like he used to, saying, 'C'mon, sis, you slackin'."


text:
The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorates the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
"The international community adopted the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to protect the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. In more than 24 years of successful implementation, the Protocol has been gradually strengthened to cover the phase-out of nearly 100 ozone-depleting substances. The latest adjustments were adopted in 2007 to accelerate the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the day.
This year's theme is "HCFC phase-out: a unique opportunity". HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are both ozone-depleting substances and powerful greenhouse gases: the most commonly used HCFC is nearly 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide in adding to global warming. By agreeing to speed up the phase-out of HCFCs, Parties to the Montreal Protocol increased their already-substantial contributions to protecting the global climate system.
While the ozone hole has been considered by some as a solved problem, in fact its recovery is still many decades away and the effects and interactions of ozone depletion on climate change are just starting to be understood.
On the 16th September 2011, embark on an investigative journey through the history and science of the ozone layer, the actions taken to address this major environmental threat and the consequences both for the ozone layer and climate system.
This short film seeks out explanations and answers from the scientists closest to the issue.
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Everything except the body panel, bumper cover, and the headlight are in "2011" condition. Until someone backed into the car, it was almost like new. Body shop said it needs between $2500-3000 of work because of the headlight, bumper attachment, front quarter panel, and where it connects to the frame part is bent (so it needs work to the connector metal part to reconnect the panel back on). Everything under the hood is in perfect condition and works. Hood and door panels are in perfect alignment... only the front body panel, headlight, and bumper cover were affected.
Anyway, does anyone want it for a reasonable sale price?
2011 Silver
36000 miles
8 bars left, 73 miles range
everything works (except right headlight)
tires like new
rims- pretty much perfect
Location- Scottsdale, AZ


text:
I may be a satisfied iPhone user, but I am always willing to consider something else. That's one reason why I was looking forward to higher-end handsets using Microsoft's Windows Phone, and why I had high hopes for Android 4.0, a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich.
Unfortunately, Windows Phone doesn't yet match the feature set in the more-mature iOS, and the latest version of Android I tried in Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, while greatly improved, was still too rough around the edges for my tastes.
But now I'm testing a new Android smartphone that is one of the best I've seen. The HTC One S leaps to the top of my list for the platform, and if you're considering a new Android phone, you should give it a very hard look.
The HTC One line is that handset maker's comeback product. The company stumbled last year and has regrouped, cutting down on the number of phones it offers and redesigning its lineup. The HTC One S goes on sale on Wednesday through T-Mobile, and a version for AT&T – the One X – will be available May 6.
If you're familiar with HTC's smartphones, the One S looks similar to past designs at first glance. There's the muted metallic color, the rounded corners and big screen. But where past HTC handsets had grown bulky, the One S is sleek and slim. Its unibody metal chassis has a more solid feel than past HTC offerings, but it's also lighter.
Inside is a 1.5-GHz dual-core processor running Android 4.0.3. The display uses a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 960-by-540 pixels. It's got a full gigabyte of RAM and 16 gigabytes of storage. The rear-facing camera boasts 8 megapixels and can shoot video in full, 1080p HD. The front-facing camera is VGA resolution.
As you'd expect on a high-end smartphone, it's got GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and even an FM radio. All this is crammed into a case that's less than a third of an inch thick and weighs just over 4 ounces.
The display is very bright indoors and fairly crisp, but it's not a high-resolution screen by any stretch. Pixels are clearly visible, and small text in the Web browser can be hard to read. Outdoors, as is typical of Super AMOLED phones, the screen washes out and is almost unreadable.
The One S comes with Beats audio, and while it sounds great with decent headphones, it's not enough of an audio improvement to be really compelling. I've gotten a similar sound on media-player software that lets me play with equalizer settings.
This is a remarkably fast smartphone with a very fluid feel. Almost everything happens instantly, particularly when connected to Wi-Fi. I've not been too impressed so far with how well the phone works on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, which has been irritatingly inconsistent. For example, this morning, running speed tests at my home in the Montrose area, I'm getting download speeds in the 20-Mbps range. But yesterday, at KPFT's Montrose studios, the phone could barely do 1 Mbps.
What I particularly love about the One S is how HTC has tweaked the Android 4.0 interface with its Sense software. This new version of Sense dials back changes to Android, providing just enough polish to give Google's mobile OS more consistency. Sense makes Android more intuitive and attractive, without burying its distinctive touches.
For example, when you tap the recent apps icon on a stock Android 4.0 device, you get a line of screenshots from recent programs marching down the screen. With Sense, they are shown in a 3D, horizontal-scrolling fashion, similar to OS X's Cover Flow. This makes it much easier to quickly access the app you want.
Sense is full of these types of tweaks, and together they make a huge difference. I'm a big fan.
There are, unfortunately, some issues with the phone. It's almost too thin, and it's back is very smooth. I have a hard time holding it firmly in my hand as a result – I've almost dropped it a few times.
Android fans who like the fact that most of the platforms smartphones have a replaceable battery will be disappointed to learn that's not the case with the One S. It's a sealed cell, but it has very good battery life. I'm getting almost a full two days of service on a charge.
There's no way to add to the 16 GB of storage on the phone. There's no memory-card slot, and the One S isn't available in versions with more onboard storage. That means you have to rely on cloud services if you go beyond the 16-GB limit.
And as I said, I've been annoyed by issues with T-Mobile's network in some of the locations I frequent. I'm looking forward to trying the HTC One X, which uses AT&T's LTE network. Of course, there I'll face the issue of data caps. T-Mobile's a bit more forgiving in that regard – it throttles after 5 GB of data is used. But that's still an issue on a phone with limited onboard storage.
Despite these misgivings, I can say that, were I to jump to Android, and HTC One phone would be my springboard.
The HTC One S sells for $199 with a $50 rebate and a two-year contract on T-Mobile.


text:
I've just added a new "feature" to the board. Unless someone is a logged-in member of the board, they will not be able to view the member or group lists.
I would suggest each of you update your profiles to not display your email addresses. They will still be displayed to board members in the member list, but your posts will not display them.
Occasionally, robots do traverse the site to harvest email addresses.
Spam Abatement
What's new
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
- Weygold
- Level 2
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Orange, CA
- Contact:
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests


text:
Dolce + Gabbana Might Need Some Stylish Jumpsuits – They've Just Been Sentenced to Prison
Is prison couture the next big trend in fashion?
Sadly, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana -- yes, the Dolce and the Gabbana of the beloved-by-celebs Dolce & Gabbana design house, pictured above with fashionista Katy Perry -- were sentenced to 20 months in prison for tax evasion in their native Italy.
Neither designer appeared at the Milan sentencing. They deny the charges and plan to appeal.
Here's the back story: According to Forbes, they have been investigated since 2007, with officials inquiring into 2004, 2005 and 2006. When D&G sold their business to a holding company in Luxembourg in 2004, they reportedly undervalued it in order to avoid paying Italian taxes related to the transaction. They stand accused of attempting to dodge taxes on the equivalent of $1.3 billion U.S. dollars.
An earlier decision in their favor was overturned by the Italian supreme court and sent back to trial (because if there's anything the Amanda Knox saga has taught us, it's that Italy doesn't have a double-jeopardy rule). The famed designers were then fined and charged criminally.
Celeb fans of the brand and its sexy wares are far and wide -- Madonna, Selena Gomez, Megan Fox, Halle Berry, Taylor Swift and countless others are often dressed by the designers for assorted red carpet events.
But D&G are not the only designers to deal with questions about their books and finances. Valentino and Roberto Cavalli have dealt with similar issues related to their wealth, too.
Will we be seeing D&G label jailhouse jumpsuits on the S/S 2014 runway? Only time will tell.


text:
Sweet treats for me, but not for thee.
White House official Larry Summers suggested that Team Obama will eventually tax and regulate junk food in the second term.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Larry Summers, chair of the White House National Economic Council when the 2009 stimulus was developed, suggested that President Obama will eventually tax and regulate junk food to drive people to eat more healthily — although he dinged First Lady Michelle Obama's healthy foods initiative.
Advertisement - story continues below
"I think there is no question that the way Americans eat and what Americans weigh is a big contributor to health problems and it's a big contributor to health costs," Summers said on Morning Joe today.It's not the agenda now, but I think at some point you're going to see tax measures and regulatory measures that are going to be directed at helping people be healthier. That's just going to happen and I think it's probably a good thing when it does."
Summers this agenda to anti-cigarette policies. "[J]ust as we have over time done things with respect to tobacco that are very constructive and that are saving hundreds of thousands of people's lives, that kind of agenda is going to come to other aspects of public health, including the way people eat," he said.
TRENDING: BREAKING: TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE! Durham Investigation Report Before November Election is UNLIKELY! -- DEEP STATE WINS! --Video
Curiously, though, Summers took an oblique shot at the results of Mrs. Obama's overhaul of the school lunch menu as part of her effort to fight child obesity.
"Should kids be going hungry at lunch because they can't have any good food — any food they like in the schools?" he asked rhetorically. "You can obviously take it too far and you have to be careful."


text:
Pinterest's mobile app displays a radial menu if you tap on an image. The menu items are for functions that are also available using the icons and buttons in the top of the UI for allowing you to pin, like, or send the image.
Pinterest's mobile app displays a radial menu if you tap on an image. The menu items are for functions that are also available using the icons and buttons in the top of the UI for allowing you to pin, like, or send the image.
Pinterest's search feature shows tag and board suggestions in the auto-completion list. Select terms/tags to display, and a horizontal list (accordion) of correlating tags to refine or narrow your your search are displayed below the search box.
This is a small animation of the heart/broken heart that is shown when favoriting or unfaving a Tumblr post in the mobile app.
Mention.com's Success Stories section uses this great phrase to introduce the Proof in the drip pan at the bottom of the page.
"They also started with a free trial." Short and persuasive copy that makes an otherwise common CTA more compelling.
Cotton Bureau uses the off-canvas pattern to slide steps of the checkout flow into the screen from the right, as the product page and previous steps slide off screen to the left.
I like how this implies the forward movement through the checkout process a bit better than the cart workflows that use vertically arranged collapsing panels.
Beatport's Pro app for the Mac offers a shopping experience that's tailored for the way DJs shop for music. The app lets users analyze their music (tracks, sounds, and playlists) to prepare sets and add music to their playlists. Here are some of the elements of the version 2 interface related to shopping in the app.
Beatport comes close to the experience of shopping in a record store, breaking down music into genres and sub-genres. Beyond that, they provide filters to offer some of the experience you would expect in a boutique shop of having someone select tracks by mood and type of venue/set. Hand picked charts round out the experience of having the in-the-know shop owner as curator to recommend tracks.
The interface for needle-dropping on the track waveforms gives you a decent way to judge a track over the selected preview. They provide a nice small representation of this in the track details inspector and the player at the bottom of the app. The track details show all the metadata I could imagine wanting—BPM, key, duration as well as those genre/mood/venue categorizations—along with purchase buttons. It would be useful if they made the metadata in the details inspector linkable as well.
This is a cute interaction for the input focus and data validation on Basecamp's registration form. The smiling character illustration on the left points out which steps are in focus. When an invalid value is entered, the character makes a concerned face and the pointing hand stays fixed on the highlighted input.
The illustrations on the site do a great job of making you feel like this isn't "business as usual," which is the reason for switching to Basecamp. Simple things that make the customer smile probably go a long way in this case.
Geeklist's sign up form tells you how secure your password is by indicating how long it would take to crack. Sounds much more understandable and convincing than the typical weak/strong message.
YouTube puts up 2 speed bumps when you try to delete a video from the video manager. This technique slows down the user about to peform a destructive action, and protects them from inadvertently deleting content.
I like the design of the La Wine Agency site. The beautiful large type on the off-white paper reminds me of letterpress cards.
One thing I loved immediately was the age gate, which asks you when you were born so you can get through to shop for wine.
Not only is the big text for the month/day/year picker friendly, but that goofy headlines and "When were you last born?" copy is hilarious, if you catch the joke.


text:
Disabilities and limited mobility routes
Identify from public data and crowdsource the easiest routes for wheelchairs, folks with limited mobility and parents pushing strollers. This could show publicly accessible elevators and other easy routes. It could overlay or analyze topographic map data. Also good stopping/resting points could be added. Eventually this could be linked to store and restaurant accessibility apps.


text:
Yazaki 2P Female Motorcycle Electrical Cable Connector 90980-12747
Wire-to-wire connector, wire-to-board connector, board-to board connector
Innovating together, KINKONG work side-by-side with customers in virtually every industry to create answers to the connectivity challenges of tomorrow. KINKONG provides quality electrical and electronic interconnection products for automotive, on- and off-highway, and hybrid and electric vehicles to electrically and mechanically join wires and cables, printed circuit boards, integrated circuit packages, and batteries. Our automotive connectors are built to withstand tough conditions and suit the needs of varying industries.
Automotive connector
Superb quality
Sufficient Stock
Timely Delivery
Value added service
3D rapid Prototyping
Custom special made
independent R & D capability
Various brands, including TE connectivity, FCI, JST, JAE, DELPHI, DEUTSCH, FEP, LEAR, HERSMAN, SUMITOMO, YAZAKI, TYCO, AMP, FURUKAWA, BOSCH, KOSTAL, KET, KUM, and so on.
Sell goods to more than 80 countries, 85% of our clients are from North America and Europe.
With a group of professional and experienced engineer team working for you and one of the most famous yazaki 2p female motorcycle electrical cable connector 90980-12747 brands, KINKONG is one of the leading such manufacturers and suppliers in China. Welcome to wholesale customized yazaki 2p female motorcycle electrical cable connector 90980-12747 made in China in stock with our factory. And free sample is also available.


text:
Frisky Friday AFGBack to Meetings
Meeting Information
- Concurrent with Alateen Meeting
- Families and Friends Only
Closed Meetings are limited to members and prospective members. These are persons who feel their lives have been or are being affected by alcoholism in a family member or friend.
- Updated December 28, 2019
Cathedral Church of St. Paul
1 other meeting at this location
815 High Street
Des Moines, IA 50309


text:
V Festival 2013 Staffordshire Information
Name: V Festival 2013 Staffordshire
Venue:Weston Park, UK
About V Festival 2013 Staffordshire
The first ever simultaneous twin-site, multi-day festival, V has a solid reputation for delivering a diverse selection of
the biggest bands in a user-friendly environment.
As Richard Branson explained in his biography, V came about when he recognised that festivals were attracting more mainstream audiences who were there primarily for the music and not so much to 'rough it'. So he set about creating an event tailored to these fairweather festival-goers, with the typical Virgin emphasis on customer-friendliness and irreverent fun.
Whilst it may not provide an emotional connection or an escape from the capitalist world, V is brilliantly successful at what it tries to be. If you want to go and see the world's biggest headline rock acts and a few pop artists you might not normally catch at a festival (Rihanna, Girls Aloud, Olly Mur et al), safe in the knowledge that it will never be a mud-bath and the organisers care about keeping the bar queues short and the toilets stocked with loo roll, then V's your baby and is ideal for first-time festival-goers.


text:
Andrew Washington Turner, a subject of previous posts (Andrew Washington Turner and Phoebe Isabelle Sirmans, Ray City News, Jan 3, 1929 ~ M.G. Melton Buys A. Turner Brick Bldgs. ), was born January 1, 1867 in Dublin, GA. He was the son of Adeline Rebecca Black Reddick and Jesse Turner. His mother had been previously married to Captain Daniel Reddick, who was a sea captain engaged in trade along coastal Georgia. Andrew had two half-siblings who were fathered by Captain Reddick; Susan Reddick and William D. Reddick.
At age 4, Andrew appeared with his family in the 1870 census of Militia District 344, Laurens, Georgia. His father was a farmer there with $500 in real estate and personal estate valued at $450. Andrew's half-brother, enumerated as William D. R. Turner, worked as a farm laborer. Also in the household was Andrew's older sister, Henrietta (age 6).
Andrew's father, Jesse Turner, died some time prior to 1880. The 1880 US Census shows Andrew Turner, living with his twice-widowed mother, half-sister Susan (Henrietta ?), and sister Mary Reddick. They were then living in Berrien County, GA Militia District 1144, in the vicinity of Rays Mill. Andrew, then age 14, "works on the farm," the census noted.
It was in Berrien County, GA that Andrew W. Turner was married to Phoebe Isabelle Sirmans on March 27, 1892. She was born June 1, 1867, a daughter of Frances Sutton and Abner Sirmans. On February 24, 1893, Andrew Turner and his wife bought land from her father, Abner Sirmans. On this land, situated in the Rays Mill community (later Ray City, Georgia), the newlyweds made their home.
In 1900, the census shows Rebecca Turner living with her son Andrew W. Turner and family in Rays Mill, Berrien, GA and notes that Rebecca was blind.
Andrew and Phoebe Isabella Turner were among the first members of the Ray City Methodist Church, which was organized on October 29, 1910. Other organizing members were Mr. and Mrs. Will Clements, Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Luckie, Will Terry, Mrs. Julia Dudley, Annie Lee Dudley, and Marie Dudley.
In 1910 Andrew Turner was working on his own account as a farmer. Mrs. Turner's widower father, Abner Sirmans, was living with the Turner family in Ray City, but had his own income.
Andrew and Phoebe Isabelle raised their family in Ray City, GA. Between 1892 and 1911, they had nine children:
- Lona Belle Turner (3/30/1893 – 5/10/1926) married Edward Holmes Sumner 10/28/1909 in Berrien County, GA, buried at Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery, Polk County, Florida.
- Rosa B. Turner (9/22/1894-9/23/1985) married Aubrey B. Shaw on 9/13/1914 ceremony performed by Lyman Franklin Giddens, Justice of the Peace, Ray City, GA. Rosa Turner is buried at Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, GA.
- Minnie Turner (7/5/1896 – 12/2/1987) married George I. Sumner on 12/22/1915, buried at Friendship Church Cemetery, Lowndes County, GA.
- Maggie Turner (12/25/1898 – 9/20/1980) married Burie Webster Clements on 5/5/1920, buried at Lakeland Memorial Gardens, Polk County, FL.
- Jesse Abner Turner (7/14/1900 – 10/3/1969) married Maude D. Yarbrough on 1/3/1920, buried at Friendship Church Cemetery, Lowndes County, GA.
- John S. Turner (8/25/1903 – 7/23/ 1984) married Florrie Olena Reynolds on 5/1/1927, buried at Riverside Cemetery, Macon, GA.
- Mittie Mae Turner (1/5/1907 – 10/23/1968) married F.H. "Mac" McColm, buried at Southern Memorial Park, Dade County, FL.
- Essie Turner (9/12/1909 – 2/11/1990) married 1) James Nathaniel Hall, 2) Tasca Luther Cole. Buried at Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, GA.
- William Theodore Turner (3/3/1911 – 9/10/1952) Never married. Buried at Sunset Hill Cemetery, Valdosta, GA.
The Turners made Ray City, GA their home through the 1920s. The Census of 1920 gives Andrew's occupation as "Cotton buyer" working on his own account. His son, Jesse Turner, was working as a drayman, for public work. The family residence was located on North Street in Ray City, next to the homes of Levi J. Clements and Lucius J. Clements, operators of the Clements Sawmill. Andrew Turner was also engaged in the in naval stores and the mercantile business.
In 1922, Andrew W. Turner dabbled in local politics:
Atlanta Constitution
Jan 11, 1922, pg 6
Ray City Officials
Milltown, Ga., January 10. – (Special.) – At the election for the town officers at Ray City. Tuesday, the following were elected: Mayor, L.F. Giddens: councilmen. J.T. Phillips, A.W. Turner, J.S. Clements, Jr., and J.A. Griffin. They were installed immediately.
During the town's boom period he constructed "two large brick buildings known as the Andrew Turner Buildings. One of the buildings is two stories high." In 1929, the Ray City News reported that this building was sold to M. G. Melton.
Sometime between 1922 and 1929 Andrew Turner purchased a farm situated between Hahira and Valdosta, GA and the family made this their home. Around this same time period, he suffered a stroke which resulted in paralysis of his left side and impaired his speech. He recovered use of his left leg sufficiently that he could walk with a cane, but his left arm remained paralyzed. Andrew's son, Jesse, had married by this time but made his home near his father's and ran the family farm.
Census records show that by 1930 the Turner family had relocated to Valdosta, GA to a home on Valley Street. Andrew Turner rented the house for $20 a month: Jesse Turner and his family apparently had an apartment in the same residence. Andrew's daughter, Mittie, was working in a department store; Jesse was working as an automobile mechanic.
Andrew Washington Turner died 1936.
Mr. Turner Dies After A Stroke
Valdosta Times
Monday, July 27, 1936.
Funeral services for A. W. Turner, 69, well known resident of this county, who died at a local hospital last night as the result of a stroke of paralysis, will be held this afternoon at 6 oclock at Sunset Hill.
The body was taken this morning from Sineath's to the home of Mrs. A.B. Shaw, a daughter who resides at 305 West Gordon Street.
Rev. L.H. Griffis, pastor of the Church of God, and Rev. C.M. Meeks, pastor of the First Methodist Church, will conduct the services.
Survivors are his wife and the following children: Mrs. A.B. Shaw and Miss Essie Turner, of this city; Mrs. G.I. Sumner, J.A. Turner and Theo Turner, of Hahira; J.S. Turner, of Porterdale; Miss Mittie Turner, of Miami; and Mrs. B.W. Clements, of Ft. Pierce. A sister, Mrs. Mary Johnson, of Macon, also survives.
Mr. Turner was for a number of years a merchant and cotton buyer in Ray City, but he had made his home in Hahira for a number of years before his death. For the past two years he had been in ill health.
His death is the occasion of much genuine sorrow throughout this section.
The Personal Mentions in the same edition of the newspaper noted:
Mr. and Mrs. P.N. Sirmans, Mr. and Mrs. Burns Sirmans, of Ray City, Mr. and Mrs. Terrel Sirmans, and Mrs. Levi Sirmans of Nashville, were here yesterday to attend the funeral of Mr. A.W. Turner.
Phoebe Isabelle Sirmans Turner died in 1948.
Mrs. A. W. Turner, 81, Passes Away; Funeral Today
Valdosta Times
August 30, 1948
Mrs. A.W. Turner, 81, passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. A.B. Shaw, 401, N. Troupe Street, early Sunday morning after a declining illness of several months. She had made her home in Valdosta for about five years, moving here from Ray City.
Mrs. Turner was born and reared in Berrien County. She was a member of the Lee Street Church of God.
Survivors include five daughters, Mrs. A.B. Shaw and Mrs. J.N. Hall, Valdosta; Mrs. B.W. Clements, Mulberry, Fla.; Mrs. G.I. Sumner, Hahira, and Mrs. F.H. McCullum, Miami, Fla.; three sons John Turner, Columbus, Ga.; J.A. and Theo Turner, Hahira; two sisters, Mrs. Leona Douglas, Ocala, Fla.; and Mrs. Kitty Turner, of Ray City, Ga. Also surviving are a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Funeral services were to be held this afternoon at 3 o'clock, at the Carson McLane Funeral Home.
Interment was to follow in the family plot in Sunset Hill beside her husband, who passed away several years ago.
Related posts:


text:
Citizenship plan lacks GOP support in Texas
AUSTIN - The nation's growing Hispanic voter base may be driving the immigration debate in Washington. But in GOP-held Texas congressional districts, it has hardly made a mark.
While some top Republican leaders have endorsed a pathway to citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented residents, the loudest GOP voices to emerge against the proposal in recent weeks have come from Texas congressmen who hail from districts with large Hispanic constituencies.
Of the state's 11 Republican-held congressional districts with Hispanic populations of at least 25 percent, seven are represented by lawmakers who have already ruled out supporting any amnesty plan, according to Express-News interviews and analysis of their recent public statements.
Very little incentive
That divide increasingly concerns those involved in drafting reform legislation. They fear the demographic shifts pressuring Republicans to compromise at the national level may carry little incentive for conservative legislators in their districts back home.
"We've been down this road before with politicians promising to enforce the law in return for amnesty," said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, whose northern San Antonio district is 28 percent Hispanic, according to U.S. Census data. "Granting amnesty actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration."
The pathway to citizenship - or "amnesty," to borrow the preferred term among its opponents - is a central plank in the reform proposals put forth last month both by President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by John McCain, R.-Ariz., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The details of both plans remain hazy. But the senators' proposal requires the nation's borders be declared secure, before undocumented residents could begin a tough process that would require them to learn English, pay back taxes and pass a background check before attaining citizenship.
So far, Texas' Democratic congressional caucus has widely endorsed the proposal. And earlier this week, a group of moderate Texas Republicans from the law enforcement, faith and business communities urged their own party's representatives in Congress to engage in a serious debate.
'Strongly opposed'
But if public rhetoric is any indication, lawmakers such as Houston-area Republican Rep. John Culberson have already made up their minds.
"I am strongly opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants," he says on his website. "Respect for the rule of law is a hallmark of our democracy, and one of the reasons America has the largest immigrant populations in the world."
Culberson, whose Houston-area constituency is more than one-third Hispanic, did not respond to requests for an interview.
His stance mirrors that of his caucus colleagues facing similar demographic trends in districts clustered primarily in the Texas Panhandle and in suburban Dallas and Houston. They are joined by the state's two Republican U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both of whom have spoken out against the citizenship pathway.
After last year's redistricting process, many of those Texas Republicans are now ensconced in even safer conservative districts. The greatest danger to their incumbency comes not from a future Democratic opponent but from an even more conservative primary challenger, said Matt Mackowiak, an Austin-based GOP consultant.
"The question is where are they most vulnerable – among their constituents at large or their conservative voter base in a primary," he said.
Ted Poe, chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, represents a 30 percent Hispanic district in the Houston area. He did not respond to requests last week to clarify his stance.
But after endorsing an expanded guest worker program last year, he became the subject of a withering campaign from the conservative, anti-reform group ALIPAC, who accused Poe of throwing in his lot with the "illegal alien invasion and amnesty supporters."


text:
Forty-one years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. Millions watched the grainy video and listened to the noisy sound from space. Now Stephen Slater and Footagevault have joined multiple camera feeds with restored audio:
The result is a new view of the amazing events that took place on July 20, 1969, and a perfect excuse to watch it again (not that I needed any excuse to watch any movie related to the Apollo program, mind you). [Footagevault]


text:
The Clare County Arts Council has been busy. They just completed a successful annual fundraiser teaming with Big Brothers/Big Sisters for the third year. More than $5,000 was raised in a silent and live auction held at the Doherty Hotel in March. These monies go towards supporting the arts in Clare County by sponsoring exhibitions, demonstrations, producing theatrical and musical performances and advancing arts education by offering classes for youth and adults.
CCAC supports Art Reach of Mid-Michigan with a donation for their second annual Art Walk Central. Big Brothers/Big Sisters provide children facing adversity with one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. This could include art projects, bowling, skiing, going to sporting events, baking, shopping, fishing, etc.
CCAC proudly works hand in hand with other community organizations. They just completed a fundraiser to restore the Pioneer Mother Statue, which continues to stand in front of the Clare Middle School since 1938. Many of Clare's students had no idea they were called the Pioneers because of this statue. The statue will be sealed when the weather is warmer. A plaque is being made with the history of the statue.
CCAC is supporting both monetarily and with representation on the steering committee for the Clare Railroad Depot Restoration project. The plan is for the depot to be moved closer to downtown Clare where it will become the Trailhead for the Pere Marquette Rail trail, which runs east to west from Midland to Evart, eventually to Ludington.
The Depot will become the home base for the Clare County Arts Council, showing art on the main floor along with railroad memorabilia, the Clare Chamber of Commerce, the Visitors Bureau and classrooms in the basement. The Depot will become an active railroad passenger depot.
Take Pride in Clare Day is April 23. CCAC members will again work with the Clare Public Schools. Teams of students, teachers and volunteers will be cleaning up the town.
The Artist of the Month program continues. Kim Ott-Gray is showing at the Chemical Bank in Clare on McEwan St. through April.
In May, the Artist of the Month is Jeanette Stewart showing at Her Place on the southwest corner of 5th Street and McEwan.
CCAC recently welcomed new board member Vicky Gunden. The seven-member board is made up of Carol Santini, President; Jane Sartor-Key, Vice-President; Paule Clark, Treasurer; and board members Linda Guiliani, Lesley Smoltz, Marcy Klaus and Vicky Gunden. Membership is open to anyone. Dues are $10 a year. You do not have to be an artist to join, as one member said when joining 'I'm not an artist but would love to be a 'grunt.''
Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is May 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Guys and Dolls Studio, 8064 S. Clare Ave., Clare. Onita Oles will present information on Quilts on Barns. This is a possible new project for CCAC.
The program each month lasts about an hour and covers such subjects as painting, quilting, poetry, photography, music, and sculpting. We love it all. Bring your ideas and join us on May 14. All meetings are free and open to the public.


text:
Adjustable Large Round Post Brackets
For use with 4" to 12" diameter posts
Adjustable Large Round Post Brackets are designed to mount one sign on large round posts with diameters of 4" to 12" such as street light poles. They are sold in sets of two, and include 2 pieces of stainless steel strapping, 2 sign mounting brackets, 2 bolts, and 2 washers. This bracket set only works with signs that have 3/8" diameter mounting holes.
Fits 4–12″ Diameter Posts
|Stainless Steel
|Sold in Packages of 2 - includes 2 brackets, stainless steel strapping and sign mounting hardware
Special Freight Arrangement: Due to the size of this product, freight shipping will be required. You may contact our customer service team for a quote or you can place your order and a customer service representative will contact you about freight shipping charges. If you would like to use your own freight carrier, please include your freight carrier account in the special instructions box at the bottom of the checkout page before placing your order. A customer service representative will be in contact with you if there are any questions.
Phone: 800-274-6271
Fax: 800-279-6897
Phone: 800-274-6271
Fax: 800-279-6897
SafetySign.com guarantees that we have the lowest price on every item we manufacture, plain and simple.
If you find a lower price, we'll match it!


text:
Cost-Effective Services for the Office
Aerofil Technology had been using cc:Mail to support internal e-mail needs for about a year and a half when I joined the organization in 1995 as an Information Services Technician. The IS manager at that time had implemented cc:Mail along with a major upgrade of computers to Windows 3.11. Networking was installed to allow connections to a Novell server for file and print services as well as access to the corporate accounting and manufacturing software.
Around my first year, the computer inventory, user base and cc:Mail usage grew, requiring the purchase of additional licenses. In 1996, my boss left to do independent consulting and I was given the opportunity to run Information Services. A one-person department has its advantages; in particular, I could make all decisions regarding technology. It also has its disadvantages, such as limited funding for projects and necessities like software licenses.
During this time, our local phone company began providing Internet service and Aerofil signed up for the corporate option, including 20 e-mail accounts which were quickly issued to a privileged few. No grandiose plan was in place with the initial sign-up, but once a few employees had Internet e-mail, everyone wanted it. Also, more and more of our customers wanted to communicate in this way. Having the ISP maintain 70+ e-mail accounts would obviously be costly, and we would not have control over the accounts. The ability to change passwords was important. So, I asked for help from our ISP in obtaining a domain name and in hosting that domain for the company.
Because so many users required access to e-mail, I set up a Linux machine with diald and IP masquerading and named it "Gatekeeper"--an Intel P133 with 32MB of RAM. This machine was a vast improvement over the previous configuration in which certain individuals had their own modems, plus we had a modem server that didn't allow more than one person at a time to access it. With Gatekeeper running, everyone had equal access. Whoever accessed it first would initiate the dial-in, but once connected, everyone had instantaneous access. Typically, once I had my e-mail client running, the connection was up all day. This was not a problem for our ISP, since their heaviest usage occurred between 8 PM and 10 PM. We were on-line only between 7 AM and 5 PM.
With the Linux machine in place, I investigated setting up fetchmail so that we could handle all of our own e-mail accounts. At the same time, I also began looking at ways to gain more control of our web site maintenance. Our ISP required that any changes be e-mailed to them for implementation. They eventually set up a configuration to do this using Samba, but it was still troublesome due to name-mangling problems.
Once our ISP began offering DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) service, I decided to wait until DSL could be implemented before pursuing direct e-mail and web site account management. Our IS budget would not allow us to implement DSL as a solution until January 1998.
In the meantime, in order to enable TCP/IP on our network, I set up a second Linux machine, appropriately named IPkeeper, to act as the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server—an old Intel 486SX33 with 16MB of RAM. This allowed us to specifically assign IP addresses by hardware address or simply from a set range of addresses. I set this up on a separate Linux machine in order to simplify the Apache configuration on Gatekeeper and to segregate the Intranet from the Internet.
In January of 1998, I placed the order for the DSL connection and added an additional Ethernet card to Gatekeeper for the DSL equipment connection. By February, Aerofil had a 128K connection to the Internet. Testing showed the connection speed to be adequate for hosting our web page. I then notified the ISP to make the necessary changes to DNS to reflect our domain location at Gatekeeper. I moved all of our web pages down and set up all the e-mail accounts that had existed at our ISP, as well as adding additional accounts for the other users who required e-mail. At this time, the company drafted an Internet and E-mail Usage Policy to discourage inappropriate use of the service. In hopes of conserving bandwidth, Internet access was restricted to those users with a justified need. This was accomplished by modifying the IP masquerading rules on Gatekeeper to allow access to specified IP addresses.
With IPkeeper on the network, even more opportunities were available to us. Ongoing discussions had been held to decide how to "computerize" corporate documents and make them accessible to every PC on the network. A variety of software solutions for Windows NT were looked into and found to be too expensive for our company. Instead, I used existing Internet technology and set up IPkeeper to host our Intranet, upgrading it to an Intel PII-233 with 32MB of RAM.
In June of 1998, the company hired a college student for the summer to assist in getting our existing documents on-line. Some of the documents were in a word-processor format, some were flowcharts done in Visio, and some existed only in paper form. Several methods were used to get this information onto the computer: scanning, converting to PDF format and coding in HTML. Basically, I set up various user areas to segregate the documents, such as Human Resources, Information Services, Aerofil Process Descriptions, Quality Control, Safety Process Descriptions, etc. Each area had security set up to ensure that only designated users could add or modify the information contained in it.
In order to add more functionality to the Intranet, I implemented the search utility HT://DIG on IPkeeper. It has proven to be one of the most useful features I have added. It allows our users to type in any keyword and instantly see a list of corresponding documents. I am also currently evaluating the Cyberscheduler application for calendar and scheduling services.
An LDAP (Lightweight Distributed Access Protocol) server is being implemented for internal use on Gatekeeper so that users who are using Netscape Communicator can get to a company e-mail directory and utilize company mailing lists more easily.
Samba has also been enabled on both Linux machines, and I am setting up home directories in order to lessen dependency on the aging Novell server.
The company has been investigating computer archive solutions for old report data and converting report files from the business accounting and manufacturing package to HTML so that the files can be indexed and viewed with a browser. The plan is to set up a system which will automatically process the report files, eliminating the need to print monthly or weekly reports as they will be easily accessible through the browser. Seth Golub's (firstname.lastname@example.com) txt2html program is being used to convert the text report to an HTML file. The most likely solution for indexing will be to index only the report headers, which contain the necessary information for locating a particular report.
Kim Henderson has been involved in Information Systems for nine years in both financial and manufacturing businesses. She has been involved with her husband, Darrin, even longer and owes much to him for his love and support. Kim spends her free time renovating their 40-year-old home, coordinating activities for the East Missouri Linux Users Group and maintaining a basement computer network with her husband and their dog, Linus. She can be reached at email@example.com.